Cities around the world, aided by long-sighted business leaders, are working to "future proof" themselves against disaster. Recently, the 4th annual Global Forum on Urban Resilience and Adaptation took place in Bonn, Germany where leaders from every corner of the earth came to learn how to prepare for the effects of climate change.

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The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) issued an informational handbook to help mayors through the process of making a more resilient city, better able to respond to and recover from disasters.

Globally, waves of historic and extreme weather events have been hammering urban centers year after year. Weâ€™re certainly seeing the same in the U.S. with an almost annual assault of severe weather events on our cities: Hurricanes, record-breaking heat waves and wildfires, flooding, monstrous and tragic city-flattening tornadoes, and of course, the severe and historic "Derecho" straight line winds of 2012.

The latest draft of the National Climate Assessment report warns that "Climate change threatens human health and well-being in many ways, including impacts from increased extreme weather events, wildfire, decreased air quality, diseases transmitted by insects, food and waterâ€¦"